Retired Harris County deputy drowns on fishing trip

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An 8-year-old boy died after slipping off the Piney Shores Resort dock into six feet of water in Lake Conroe during a Sunday afternoon family outing - at least the second drowning death of the weekend and the seventh since May in Montgomery County.

Precinct 1 Constable's Lt. Tim Cade said "it all happened very quickly," as the boy's father promptly pulled him out of the water and tried to administer CPR.

"Someone can inhale water that fills your lungs and be gone in minutes," Cade said. An autopsy has been ordered.

According to investigators, the boy was playing along the shore with his father and brother when he walked onto the dock, sat down and dangled his feet in the water. Then somehow he slipped into the water, and his father rushed over to pull him out, Cade said.

"He was still conscious when his father carried him to the nearby picnic table and began administering CPR, with instructions from the 911 dispatcher," Cade said. The child was not responsive by the time emergency workers arrived and flew him to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The names of the boy and his father, who is from Houston, were not released.

An epidemic

This latest drowning brings the number of lake-related deaths since May in Montgomery County to seven. Five of the earlier deaths also occurred in Lake Conroe - three from a boating accident and two who drowned after jumping off a dock or barge. The sixth fatality occurred when a swimmer drowned in a small private lake in the Lake Conroe Forest subdivision not far from Lake Conroe.

Also this weekend, a retired Harris County Sheriff's reserve deputy drowned after falling off a boat.

Donald Ray McBroom, 65 of Tomball, was fishing early Saturday with James Poppenhausen at Yarboro Lake between Navasota and Montgomery, according to the Grimes County Sheriff's Office.

About 8 a.m., the two retired Harris County deputies returned to the pier at Yarboro Lake Fishing Club to pick up some additional equipment. McBroom tried to step onto the pier before the boat was secured, falling into the water.

The press release did not say how soon McBroom was recovered from the water, but that he died at the scene and was transported for an autopsy.

Rita McBroom, his wife of 35 years, said her husband loved fishing and had spent more time at the lake since retiring in late 2010.

Known as family man

She said he had joined the sheriff's office in 1991, working at the jail and as a reserve deputy.